Lord Triesman: Bethlehem is of unique religious and cultural significance to Christians. We remain concerned about the current route of the barrier and settlement building around Bethlehem, and other parts of the West Bank.
	Settlements are illegal under international law and settlement construction is an obstacle to peace. The road map is clear that Israel should freeze all settlement construction including the "natural growth" of existing settlements, and dismantle all outposts built since 2001.
	We also fully recognise Israel's right to self-defence. A barrier is a reasonable way to achieve this. But the barrier's route should be on or behind the Green Line, and not on occupied territory. Construction of the barrier on Palestinian land is illegal. The route is particularly damaging around East Jerusalem, as it risks cutting the city off from the West Bank and dividing the West Bank in two.
	On 2 March, our ambassador in Tel Aviv discussed settlements, the barrier, and Israeli acting Prime Minister Olmert's future plans for the West Bank with the Israeli Prime Minister's special adviser.

Lord Bach: The single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin (SICCT) test, commonly known as the tuberculin skin test, is a well-established screening test for TB in cattle. It is a test approved and recognised by the EU Commission and the International Animal Health Organisation (OIE) as a primary, effective tool for the diagnosis of TB in cattle and other species, by virtue of its overall accuracy, robustness and relative simplicity (as demonstrated in several field evaluations conducted throughout the world).
	The accuracy of any test is measured in terms of its specificity (proportion of uninfected animals identified as negative) and its sensitivity (proportion of infected animals detected as positive). The specificity for a correctly performed SICCT is above 99 per cent. Its sensitivity is between 77 per cent. and 95 per cent.
	The effectiveness of the tuberculin test depends on a host of controllable and uncontrollable variables such as the quality of the test reagent (tuberculins) employed, the operator performing the test, the animal/herd being tested, criteria for interpretation and the epidemiological situation. All batches of tuberculin undergo quality assurance testing at the Veterinary Laboratories Agency before release and their performance in the field is also monitored by epidemiological analyses. The quality of tuberculin testing work by approved local veterinary inspectors (LVIs) is assured by annual veterinary practice audits conducted by the State Veterinary Service (SVS), which ensure that LVIs are working to the most up to date operating procedures. The test certificates submitted by LVIs to the SVS are also audited for consistency with professional expectations. All concerns raised by farmers regarding the administration of the test are investigated by the SVS. A number of key TB epidemiological parameters (e.g. rate of reactors per 10,000 tests, disease confirmation rate in individual reactors, slaughterhouse case numbers, etc.) are also centrally monitored as indirect indicators of the effectiveness of the tuberculin testing programme.
	Provisional statistics indicate that 33.6 per cent 1 of all skin test reactors slaughtered in 2005 had demonstrable signs of TB (visible lesions on post mortem examination or a positive culture result for mycobacterium bovis). The purpose of post mortem examination and bacteriological culture of tuberculin test reactors is not so much the validation of skin test results on individual animals, but rather to determine for epidemiological purposes, (a) the severity of disease in infected animals and (b) the strain of mycobacterium bovis organism involved. Failure to find evidence of the disease by these means in a test reactor does not mean that the animal was not infected. In the early stages of infection, it is not always possible to see TB lesions with the naked eye, and, due to the fastidious nature of the organism, it is not possible to culture it from samples in every case.
	1 Provisional data downloaded from the State Veterinary Service database on 7 March 2006. Subject to change as more data become available.

Lord Rooker: Details of European funding granted by the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland (CFNI), formerly known as the Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust, since its creation are as follows.
	
		
			 Programme Measure Amount Awarded £m Measure Title 
			 Peace I 3.4(a) 8.97 Cross-Border Community Reconciliation 
			  3.4(b) 0.38 Cross-Border Community Reconciliation 
			  4.1 13.31 Developing Grassroots Capacities and Promoting the Inclusion of Women 
			  4.4 0.48 Promoting the Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups and Improving the Accessibility and Quality of Services aimed at these groups 
			  4.6 3.14 Accompanying Infrastructure and Equipment Support 
			 
			 Northern Ireland Single Programme Document 2.1.3 3.98 Targeting Social Need 
			  2.1.5 2.81 Community Infrastructure 
			 Peace I (NIO) 4.4 7.13 Promoting the Inclusion of Vulnerable Groups and Improving the Accessibility and Quality of Services aimed at theses groups 
			  4.6 3.35 Accompanying Infrastructure and Equipment Support 
			 Peace II 2.3 4.65 Skilling and Building the Social Economy 
			  2.4(a) 7.30 Pathways to Inclusion 
			 Peace II (OFMDFM) 2.4(b) 5.99 Integration and Reconciliation 
			  2.6 2.98 Promoting Active Citizenship 
			  2.7 5.36 Developing Weak Community Infrastructure 
			  2.8 5.36 Accompanying Infrastructure and Equipment Support 
			  5.3 8.57 Developing Cross-Border Reconciliation and Understanding 
			  5.4 10.22 Promoting Joint Approaches to Social Education Training and Human Resource Development 
		
	
	As in excess of 5,000 projects were funded by CFNI under these programmes, it is not possible to list all projects in this response. However, a list of the projects funded will be placed in the Library of the House in due course. As applications average 50 pages, it is not possible to place a copy of each of the 5,000 applications in the Library of the House due to the disproportionate cost.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Since November 2005, hardware and software failures due to unseen increased demand have caused some delays to the Immigration and Nationality Directorate website. A significant amount of work is currently being undertaken to improve the service of website. The Home Office has approved the purchase of a new hardware platform and the implementation of a new site management tool. The rollout of these technical solutions will noticeably improve the performance rate of the website. This is scheduled for completion by the 15 April 2006. From the beginning of February 2006, the IND web team has posted a news story on the website to inform customers of on-going problems. This story will be regularly revised and remain until the problems are resolved.

InterTradeIreland

Lord Triesman: Israel has the right to defend itself, but any actions it takes must be in accordance with international law and should be proportionate. We have repeatedly expressed our concern about Israel's policy on targeted killings, particularly our concerns about the number of civilian casualties. It is essential that Israel conducts itself in accordance with international law. International law requires that lethal force be used only where absolutely necessary in self-defence. We believe, however, that in many cases Israel's use of lethal force was not necessary. We have been particularly concerned that, in the course of Israel Defence Force operations, too little effort was made to avoid civilian casualties. We call upon Israel to act with restraint and end its policy of targeted killings. Our ambassador in Tel Aviv last raised the deaths of Palestinian individuals as a result of Israeli Defence Force activities in the Occupied Territories with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on 30 January and our Defence Attaché raised this with the Israel Defence Force on 8 March.

Lord Davies of Oldham: The A419 Blunsdon Bypass is 3.5 kilometres (2 miles) in length. The estimated cost of the scheme in 2002 was £28.8 million. The latest approved scheme budget is £65.5 million.
	There are two main reasons for the increased forecast costs. First, the Highways Agency has improved the way that it develops TPI scheme budgets, based on Treasury guidance. This accounts for £11 million of the scheme cost increase. Since 2003, additional allowances have been included for assessed project risk, projected inflation at 2.5 per cent, and the recognised tendency in construction projects for budgets to be set too optimistically ("optimism bias"). That means that there are now better forecasts of the likely final costs of schemes. It also means that scheme costs pre-April 2003 are not directly comparable with costs post-April 2003, as they comprise different calculations of scheme cost. This new approach means that there is a better grip on likely final costs and the agency can act now to tackle potential cost increases rather than react afterwards when we get bigger bills.
	The targeted programme of improvements is subject to external cost pressures; including rising energy prices; that have driven cost inflation above the retail prices index in the construction industry.
	The remainder of the increase (£26 million) can be attributed to increases in the cost of construction and design fees, with the most significant element (£20 million) due to increased lands cost estimate.
	The Highways Agency is taking urgent measures to drive down costs and improve estimating and budgeting, including working closely with the supply chain. It is also taking a more realistic view of the final costs of projects.
	The scheme benefits include a reduction in congestion, long delays and accidents. There will also be environmental improvements for people living near the trunk road due to a reduction in the volume of traffic.